Journal of the American Academy of Audiology

Ten Suggestions for JAAA Authors

Ten Suggestions for JAAA Authors

The biggest problem we have is with figures. Very often the lettering is too small. Usually it is because the author uses a graphics program intended for an 8 ½ X 11 inch page in a written report. But when a figure goes into one of our columns it will be reduced in size until it is only 2 ¾ inches wide. Lettering appropriate for a full page will be so small that you cannot read it. Before submitting a figure, take it to a reducing Xerox machine and reduce the width to 2 ¾ inches. At this size, the lettering on the figure should be about the same size as the text on a journal page. All of the lettering on a figure should be about the same size. Wide variations in lettering size within the same figure do not look good.

Carefully study the JAAA reference style. It is not quite the same as APA. We have tried to conserve periods and commas.

Spend some time really thinking about the abstract. It should not be a simple condensation of the rest of the paper. Instead it should emphasize what is new and important about the paper – why the reader should want to read further. Punch the message without bogging down in details of procedure and findings.

Try to avoid use of the passive voice (e.g., say “We decided”, or “I decided”, rather than “It was decided”). Don’t be afraid to use personal pronouns like “I” and “We”. Those who teach that this is not permissible in scientific writing are errant pedants.

Be sure to affirm that rights and welfare of human subjects have been assured via appropriate institutional guidelines.

Be sure to acknowledge any financial interest that any of the authors may have in a product or procedure evaluated and reported in the paper.

If you want to report on a test or procedure intended for persons with auditory impairment, you need to report how the technique works on persons with auditory impairment as well as on persons with normal auditory function.

Do not be put off by anything that any reviewer says. Consider yourself fortunate that someone has taken the trouble to help you. Benefit from it.

Expect to revise. We all do it. It is par for the course.

Endear yourself to the editor-in-chief, and the reviewers, by carefully & thoroughly proofreading the paper before you submit it.